Chris Martin walked out of a radio interview last week
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7452341.stm
Does this mean that having won the 'Irritating self-absorbed arse' award three years on the trot he now gets to keep the trophy?

I assume he is cleaving to the 'Any publicity is good publicity' line as justification, but really, how far up yourself do you have to be to behave like that?

So the yeoman contributors to this blog have had a fine old time recently declaring various musical loves that they've previously been maybe too shy to admit to. We've had Gilbert O'Sullivan Jethro Tull, Dire Straits, Supertramp etc etc etc.

So my question to the assembled brains is this. Are we now to declare an amnesty on all bands who have previously been convicted of crimes against music? Does nothing remain beyond the pale? Is there one band that we can still agree upon as being utterly hopeless, that remain so irredeemably bad that they will never come in from the cold (Feel free to mix as many metaphors as you like).

I'll go first - Uriah Heep. Desperate senseless 'me too' plod-rock - hateful.

I was idling away Friday afternoon trying to identify the best and worst years for music according to the singles charts. Lest we believe that "ee it were better in the old days" the list below is 1972:

8th Jan New Seekers I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)
5th Feb T Rex Telegram Sam
19th Feb Chicory Tip Son Of My Father
11th Mar Nilsson Without You
15th Apr The Pipes & Drums & Military Band of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Amazing Grace
20th May T Rex Metal Guru
17th Jun Don McLean Vincent
1st Jul Slade Take Me Back 'Ome
8th Jul Donny Osmond Puppy Love
12th Aug Alice Cooper School's Out
2nd Sep Rod Stewart You Wear It Well
9th Sep Slade Mama Weer All Crazee Now
30th Sep David Cassidy How Can I Be Sure
14th Oct Lieutenant Pigeon Mouldy Old Dough
11th Nov Gilbert O'Sullivan Clair
25th Nov Chuck Berry My Ding-A-Ling
23rd Dec Little Jimmy Osmond Long Haired Lover From Liverpool

I'm suprised by the number of 'novelty' singles in there. The two top selling singles were "Amazing Grace" and "Mouldy old dough".

Do we still have novelty singles any more or are they another casualty of the "new record market paradigm" as I heard it called somewhere recently (Not in The Word - happily)

Elswhere in the blog Rutland Weekend Television is mentioned, which prompted me to look for my all time fave Dylan/protest singer piss take - And lo there it was! Perfect from the first second to the last.

Without really understanding how I found myself watching Talking Heads doing 'Burning down the House' live on YouTube this evening. Love them or not this film clip is just great. It set me thinking about some of the wonderful stuff that seems to have made it into YouTube now.

In the last week I've seen some pearls here in the Blog (The clip of the toddler doing the Magma song is burned in my memory...also the 60's mellotron piece....) so for all of our entertainment can I ask for a few more pearls please. I'll go first...

Dear Auntie Word

As someone with a reasonable collection of music (62-present), I am often prevailed upon by my friends to provide the soundtrack, or backing music, to social events that they are hosting "Oh go on, Muttn" they say "you like music". I assume I am not alone in this experience.

They say "Can you put together some stuff that can be on in the background early but then get dancier later".
"You choose"...
pause...."BUT"

(and here we come to the nub, or crux of the matter)

"Could you please just put in some...." and here I leave it to you to put in your own nightmare music choice..for the sake of argument, lets say Michael Bolton.

What happens next.....what do I say??

My next assignment is for a woman of otherwise impeccable taste but whose ears are used to keep her glasses on. For Michael Bolton read in this case Simply Red.

It's a new dilemma inasmuch as in days of yore when platters were spun you could just 'forget' to play the the damnable thing and hope the host didn't notice. Now the playlist has to be prepared in advance (I've even had one vetted in the past). In addition I don't want to be manacled to the HiFi for the night, being something of and ankle-shaker and rug-cutter myself.

What form of words can overcome this shocking state of affairs?

So it's Sunday evening and having supped 'well but not wisely' as some wordmith once said, I started up the old audio and selected random to see what the gods would select for me.....

Up came 'Let it grow' from 461 Ocean Boulevard. This has long been an album redolent of good times for me (If not for its Composer!) and I whistled along happily while washing up.

But wait...what's happened?...My addled brain plays a few tricks with the tempo and something else has appeared in the musical mist...something soot-stained and terrifying....noooo! it's Dick Van Dyke in Mary F£%$^&g Poppins! Chim Chim Cheree!

I'm doomed - Clapton is powerless to counter the cockernee yank vowel-mangler and a good song is now ruined for me. Does this happen to anyone else?

All together...

'Standing at the crossroads
Trying to read the signs
Goood lack will rab orf when oi shakes ends wiv YOOOOO'

The Times, in it's (rightfully complimentary) review of the podcast made reference to 'men of a certain age'. Then in another blog blow me, the phrase cropped up again.

I felt a certain irritation at this categorisation...(yes I know, grumpy old man etc)..it feels like some kind of male menopause thing. But then I fell to thinking. What exactly is that certain age? and what is the age of the Word target reader? I am going to make a guess here and say that it's around 47. The correspondents on the website feel about that age. You know, been round the block a bit, essentially optimistic but prone to splenetic outbursts when confronted by another female yodelling 'RnB' b@llocks.

Being astute chaps with multiple magazine launches under their belts no doubt messers Ellen, Hepworth and co know this age to within a couple of weeks - and they target it of course.

Your correspondent is 49.